System Pics 2020

Hi @popeye,

Unfortunately I couldn’t use the SuperLumina yet. I bought it from another fan and probably something went wrong with the shipment, since one of the pins in a connector was broken. It is now in Salisbury. I currently use a HighLine.

I also ordered the Morgana XLR-Din for the 300Dr. Awaiting that one as well.

Iver

Hi @seanf, how do you find this DAC? I’m looking at running one between my Cambridge Audio CXUHD Bluray player (coaxial our) and a headphone amp (analogue input).

@Mike_S, I’m very happy with it, though haven’t really compared it to much else. It was originally running between my PC and Naim system, and that was a huge improvement over the m-audio sound card that I had used for years. It really was one of those night and day differences (a decent phono to DIN cable makes a difference too). The only other DAC I have heard is my Dragonfly Black portable USB DAC. This sounds great with my phone and headphones but when I tried it against the DacMagic in my system, it was clearly inferior. The DacMagic is now connecting a Raspberry Pi streamer to the system and that is incredibly good. You should definitely try one in your system, it only costs about 150 quid, but the improvement I got was superb. I’ve sometimes wondered about upgrading my DAC but I imagine it would cost quite a few hundred to do so.

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Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it. Cheers.

You are in for a treat when the superlumina arrives!
Enjoy
Gary

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And there it is. Nait 5, Flatcap 2, Stafeline N, Rega P5, Dynavector 10x5, Schiit Bifrost Uber, Emit-30. Simple enough.

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RP2, CD3.5, NAC62 HICAP NAP140, Linn Keilidh
… Just added the HICAP this morning first addition for many years; a lockdown treat!

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NDX2/252/SCDR/250DR/Oppo 203/804D3. Guess 555ps will be next.

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Nice. I always thought the 62/140/Hi-Cap was a sweet spot in the olive range. Great to see another 90s Soundstyle tried still in use too! Still have mine. Like the record cube with the dividers too - home made or manufactured?

The cubes are Habitat originals from XX years ago when I worked there on Saturdays!!.. Left when I was 18 so they are over 30 years old!!.. I have 6 in total all full of vinyl of varying vintage, quality and embarrassment factor!

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Ah, Habitat - they look great! I keep meaning to have a go at making something similar but it would be quite a project to make as many as needed and get them all perfectly square!

A great pity that Habitat closed their chain of stores - we bought a lot of stuff from them inc our cast iron bed which we still have.

Nice system Crispy.
How did you get to where you are now, did you have the 252/Supercap before the NDX2?
Interested what you think with that level of system using a bare NDX2.

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The Palaset cube. I remember staggering from Churchill Square to Brighton Station with three of them.

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Nice and tidy, even sideways.

Cheers!..burp!

I had a SN1 with HiCap and got NDX2 to replace NDX. The bare NDX2 is excellent and went up a level with IsoAcoustic feet. This is a work in progress while funds grow for the next stage and I get relevant permission from in high.

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Hi @Mike_S, I have a DacMagic Plus (the bigger brother of the DacMagic 100 that @seanf has) and both have an interesting performance for the money.

It sounds flat and muddy (especially in the middle range) compared to our NDX 2… no wonder given the price difference. However I used it with Ultrasone headphones, JRiver and some equalization to match my Totem speakers’ character: in the end I got very enjoyable results and I was pretty happy.

I’m sure you’ll get much better results with your headphone amp.

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The last of the virus-induced changes for a while:



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On quite same level as Nd555 now? Just different…

I have to say definitely on the same level as ND555, but yes different as you say.

There are certain “wow” things that the ND555 can do; I still appreciate those!

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Nice looking turntable :+1:

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